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21 September 2004
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for allowing
me time to make a few short remarks. I am Raymond Plzak, the President of
the American Registry for Internet Numbers, ARIN, one of the Regional Internet
Registries. I am here this afternoon to speak on behalf of the Number Resource
Organization, the NRO. I wish to take a few moments of your time to provide
you with information regarding the current management of Internet Number
Resources and to express a few thoughts about the Working Group.
The NRO was formed by the Regional Internet Registries, the RIRs, in October
2003 to formalize their cooperative efforts. The NRO exists to protect
the unallocated Number Resource pool, to promote and protect the bottom
up operational and technical policy development process, and to act as
a focal point for input into the RIR system.
Internet Number Resources have been actively managed since the Internet
Protocol was established in 1981. This began with a Central Registry and
then was regionalized over time as the RIRs were formed beginning in 1992.
The Central Registry ceased Internet Number Resource management in 1997.
There are currently four RIRs providing the management of these resources.
APNIC serving the Asia-Pacific area and the islands east of Africa in the
Indian Ocean, ARIN serving Northern America, portions of the Caribbean
and continental Africa south of the equator, LACNIC serving Latin America
and portions of the Caribbean, and RIPE NCC, serving Europe, portions of
Asia, and continental Africa north of the equator. The NRO is currently
actively engaged in the establishment of a fifth RIR to manage internet
number resources in Africa. AfriNIC will serve those portions of Africa
that are currently served by APNIC, ARIN, and RIPE NCC. We expect AfriNIC
to be fully operational in 2005.
The RIRs use a multi-stakeholder approach for
the development of operational and technical policy to manage IP address
space. The RIRs are structured
along the lines discussed this morning. The RIRs are transparent – all
of the email discussion lists are open to everyone without restriction.
The public policy meetings are open to everyone without restriction. The
RIRs are accountable. Their governing boards are elected, the minutes of
all meetings are publicly published, the budgets are publicly published,
and the members direct their activities. The RIRs are inclusive. Anyone
may become a member.
The RIRs through the NRO fully support the ICANN model. The NRO is confident
that this model is the best way for industry self-regulation to work in
the development of technical policy for the technical management of Internet
Number Resources.
In regards to the Working Group, the NRO believes that it should be transparent,
accountable, and inclusive. It should include not only governments, but
also stakeholders who have participated or will participate in the development
and operation of the internet. These are valuable voices and they must
have meaningful participation. Lastly, we humbly ask that the NRO be included
as a full participant in the Working Group.
Thank you very much for your patience.
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